Maine in mid-November

[Sanjay Sen]

Hi all,

I am planning on a week-long trip to photograph interior Maine in mid-November. I will be shooting mostly LF, both B&W and color, and am looking for suggestions of your favorite locations.

I've been to Maine a few times, mostly to Acadia and Portland, but not to the interior. (This past summer I took a road trip along coastal Maine, up to Calais.) For the upcoming trip, I'm hoping to visit the Lakes & Mountains region, the Kennebec & Moose River Valleys, and the Highlands. (These geographic regions are based on Maine's tourism website.)


Please also feel free to post any suggestions of accommodations that you liked - I am all ears.



Thank you in advance.


Best wishes,
Sanjay

 

[copake_ham]

If photography is your only reason for going to interior Maine in mid-November, I'd reconsider the trip.

 

[Sanjay Sen]

If photography is your only reason for going to interior Maine in mid-November, I'd reconsider the trip.

OK, let me put it this way: it is not the only reason, but it is one of the reasons. Which is to say, I can "live the moment" and not photograph it if the circumstances so demand.

BTW, I am curious why you suggested reconsidering the trip.


Best wishes,
Sanjay

 

[copake_ham]

OK, let me put it this way: it is not the only reason, but it is one of the reasons. Which is to say, I can "live the moment" and not photograph it if the circumstances so demand.

BTW, I am curious why you suggested reconsidering the trip.


Best wishes,
Sanjay

Mid-November in interior Maine will at best be gray - as in gray skies and gray landscape.

No leaves on the trees and no snow on the ground.

Just an all around dullness.

But heck, prove me wrong. Go up and shoot - but consider at least heading over to the coast to get some pics of gray boats in fog-shrouded gray harbors.

[PS - also remember that it's hunting season. About the only other folk out in the woods with you are toting rifles and may mistake you for a deer or moose. And if they do, it's your fault - not theirs.]

 

[Troy]

November is deer hunting season up here. If you're planning on going into the woods wear blaze orange -- a lot of it -- so you don't get shot. I'm serious. And dress very, very warmly. You have long underwear, right?

 

[Jeanne]

on top of wear blaze orange, wear no white and use no white (as in darkcloth) -- sounds crazy, but people get shot for white mittens, white kleenex, white anything.

 

[Sanjay Sen]

I was doing some reading today and realized about the hunting season. Anyway, thanks for the advice. I wasn't planning on going further than twenty yards away from the car (or road) anyway, but now I'll be extra cautious and try to stay away from the hunting grounds.

[PS - also remember that it's hunting season. About the only other folk out in the woods with you are toting rifles and may mistake you for a deer or moose. And if they do, it's your fault - not theirs.]

I understand this holds if I am in the woods where the hunters are. Does this also hold if I am on the road (or on the side of it), away from the hunting areas?

 

[Ed Sukach]

on top of wear blaze orange, wear no white and use no white (as in darkcloth) -- sounds crazy, but people get shot for white mittens, white kleenex, white anything.

This is good advice, but let us NOT get overly paranoid. Very few hunters are wild-eyed maniacs (not meant to be specific of any particular state), shooting at everything that moves. The danger is that if you are not sure of your target your "target" MAY shoot back. I have heard of that happening to irresponsible idiot beginners - once - but I've never heard of it happening - to anyone - twice.

In Massachusetts, there has NOT been a hunter fatality due to someone having been mistaken for a deer since the enactment of the "Hunter Orange" law in the mid- 1960's (?). By far, the greatest number of deaths, nationally, while hunting are due to heart failure. Contrary to popular belief, hunting is strenuous activity.

 

[Troy]

Ed, unfortunately that's not the case here. A 16 -year-old girl was shot dead in her back yard last year.

 

[selenium96]

I am new to this site and this is my first post. I felt compelled to reply as I am a B&W photographer and deer hunter from central Maine.

1. Yes, there are occasional hunting accidents that tend to get lots of dramatic headlines but overall, hunting is one of the safest activities in the Maine woods. Use some common sense about how you dress and where you are and you will be fine. I usually have my camera bag and plenty of film in my truck during my hunting excursions. Regular firearms season for deer ends on November 24th.

2. If you shoot in B&W, this is a great time of year in Maine. The leaves are gone, but the sun is at a low angle for a good part of the day providing some great lighting.

3. With no snow or leaves, some shots reveal themselves that are only visible through the naked trees. Plenty of old farms, stone walls, firewood piles, white clapboard country churchs and little towns are in the Maine interior.

Get yourself a copy of DeLorme's "The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer" and drive the back roads. You will find plenty to photograph.

Steve

 

[Sanjay Sen]

Steve, welcome to APUG! I hope you enjoy the time you spend here. And thank you for sharing your thoughts.

I'll try to get a copy of the "The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer": driving the back roads is my plan, as I'm not much of a hiker (although I like to think I am). The plan is to photograph what I see from the road, and maybe walk out a few yards to get a better view. Coming from overcrowded suburban central Jersey, I have no idea how these things work: are 'active' hunting areas clearly marked as such?

Thanks to all for your advice & suggestions.


Best wishes,
Sanjay

 

[Phil]

There is info on areas in Maine that are closed to hunting on this site - see the 'Closed and Special Regulation Areas' link:

http://www.maine.gov/ifw/laws_rules/hunting_trapping/hunt_traplaws.htm

I expect you will see land posted for no trespassing, no hunting, and 'only by permission' as well, so be sure to read the signs carefully.

Also, see this link:

http://www.maine.gov/ifw/laws_rules/hunting_trapping/hunt_traplaws.htm#deerhuntinginfo

Note that Muzzleloader and Archery hunting are allowed after the rifle season.

And, what you wear can make a difference...

http://www.dps.state.vt.us/vtsp/press/press_101907_williston.htm

Phil

 

[selenium96]

Sanjay,

Thanks for the welcome.

Active hunting areas are not marked but NO HUNTING areas are. Landowners that do not want hunting on their land "post" their woods with No Hunting-No Trespassing signs. There are no guarantees that there will not be a hunter in those woods though as many landowners who do post their land to strangers will allow hunting by permission only. If you are on a back road through a stretch of woods that is not posted and you see a vehicle parked in the middle of nowhere, chances are good there is hunting going on. Most hunting happens on Saturdays and holidays. Hunting is not allowed on Sundays.

Any store in Maine that has any sporting goods will sell hunter orange caps and vests this time of year. For less than $20 you can get yourself outfitted. If you plan to leave the pavement on any wooded stretches of road "out in the country" I strongly suggest wearing the orange. Maine is 90% forest. Don't worry about looking funny because lots of folks wear orange this time of year. Country folks will wear orange in their yards if hunting is going on nearby.

Maine is a big state. Where will your base of operations be?

Steve

 

[photobum]

"Country folks will wear orange in their yards if hunting is going on nearby"

That about says it all. I was a firearms instructor in the police academy for 16 years. Another instructor was shot and killed in New York about ten years ago. We had gone through the FBI's instructors course together.

I would never underestimate the stupidity of a monkey with a gun.

 

[Troy]

That's what I'm on about, though I wouldn't use the word "monkey." There are dopes in every crowd, in every walk of life. But, during hunting season some of them are shooting at things in the woods.

Best of luck out there Sanjay. Give me a shout if you're overnight anywhere near Portland.

TROY.

"Country folks will wear orange in their yards if hunting is going on nearby"

That about says it all. I was a firearms instructor in the police academy for 16 years. Another instructor was shot and killed in New York about ten years ago. We had gone through the FBI's instructors course together.

I would never underestimate the stupidity of a monkey with a gun.

 

[copake_ham]

It was never my intention if posting my advisory regarding hunting to disparage either the activity or hunters.

We own 15+ acres of land in upstate New York, and while I myself do not hunt, we gladly let our neighbor do so. It's partly just being "neighborly" and it's partly because he shares the venison with us.

The story of a woman getting shot in Maine while wearing white mittens during hunting season is true. She was not a local and did not understand what hunting season was. She was wearing the mittens while taking clothes off of a backyard washline which was surrounded by a wooded area.

As I recall, the hunter did not "flee" but in fact reported the accident and was not charged with any crime. When he was later sued by the family - they lost the lawsuit on the basis that her behavior was reckless given that it was hunting season and she was dressed in such a manner that she could be mistaken at distance for a white-tailed deer.

My warning was simply based on the fact that hunting is a traditional November activity in many rural areas , including Maine. As such, anyone entering wooded areas (that are not otherwise closed to hunting) should be very cautious and should make themselves very obvious (e.g. blaze orange clothing).

 

[Troy]

And there you have it... if you get shot in your own backyard hangong clothes on the line it's you're own fault, not the dope with the gun. After all, she wasn't from around here.

Unbelievable.

Be careful Sanjay, be very careful.

 

[Phil]

The woman was Karen Wood. Here's an account:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpa...2575AC0A96F948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print

Donald Rogerson was found not guilty of manslaughter:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE0DA1F38F93BA25753C1A966958260

I seem to recall a bill was introduced to the Maine Legislature to change the land posting law to require land to be posted to allow hunting, rather than to forbid hunting, as a result of this incident. It was never enacted.

Phil

 

[Ed Sukach]

The woman was Karen Wood. Here's an account:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpa...2575AC0A96F948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print
Donald Rogerson was found not guilty of manslaughter:

A terrible tragedy. IMHO, and without knowing all the facts - a clear case of manslaughter. To me there is one inescapable element - the hunter could NOT have been sure, not even a little bit, considering the use of a telescopic sight - of his target. Period.

But again, consider the frequency of such occurences - the date of that article was September 10, 1989 - eighteen (18) years ago. As terrible and unforgiveable as it may be - and I, in no way means this as "justification" - it is still rare.

If I remember right - a survey found the most dangerous leisure activity (fatalities per hour of involvement) to be ... swimming.

Hunting was one of the safest.

 

[copake_ham]

.... IMHO, and without knowing all the facts - a clear case of manslaughter. ....

:confused:

Without knowing all the facts....a clear case....?

:confused:

 

[BrianShaw]

... and drive the back roads. You will find plenty to photograph.

This is my most favorite advise yet... because I believe it to be very, very true!

 

[panastasia]

I remember canoing along with a friend on a meandering river with tall grass all around and hearing gun shots close by. In about another 100 feet, around the next bend, there were two guys with rifles. We asked them what they were shooting at and they replied in unison: "anything that flies!". When we heard this we knew the bullets were flying in our direction, not far over our heads, before they knew we were there.

We weren't wearing anything red, or orange, that day because we weren't expecting such an encounter. It was quite disturbing now that I think of it. It could have easily been one of those unfortunate incidents if our heads were mistaken for low flying turkeys, or pheasants moving over the tall grass - it sounded like they were shooting at anything that moved.

It was the Charles River in Needham, MA. I guess hunting is allowed in more places than we might imagine, even a few yards off the road in civilized areas.

 

[Troy]

Swimming might be the most dangerous hobby, but I'm guessing it's only dangerous for the swimmer themselves, not other people minding their own business in their backyards.

From the Lewiston Sun Journal last year...

On Dec. 7, an hour before nightfall, 18-year-old Megan Ripley was roaming in the woods a quarter-mile behind her family's farmhouse on Christian Ridge Road in Paris. At the same time, not far away, 51-year-old Timothy P. Bean of Paris was hunting deer with a muzzleloader.

He fired a shot that hit Ripley in the chest. She died a short time later at Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway.

... and as the gun nuts say, "guns don't kill people, people with guns in the woods kill people."

That's it for me I'm going back to talking about photography: yep, it sure is pretty up here. It's already snowing in the hills and mountains. That should make for some lovely, stark pictures of the landscape.

 

[copake_ham]

We first started spending our weekends in "the country" some 21 years ago.

We quickly learned that we had to adapt our urban weekday/workday lifestyle to a different society when we went "upstate". We also learned that the best "game warden" we could find was to let one trusted fellow (there are very few women hunters) have exclusive privileges to hunt on our property.

For twenty-one years this has worked out fine. Not the least of which is because in most years our neighbor, Hank, gets a buck. And, because neither his wife nor his elderly mother-in-law likes to eat "Bambi meat" he dumps most of the venison on us!

Yay, Hank! It's hunting season - time to clear out the freezer and get ready!

 

[Sanjay Sen]

Well, I can tell you one thing - if my wife were to read this thread, I would be making alternate plans for the trip! Anyway, I will be wearing blaze orange and try not to venture into the woods. I appreciate all your inputs, though.

Phil, thanks for the links. I will give them a read through.

Maine is a big state. Where will your base of operations be?

As of now, I plan to pick an area or two (from all the suggestions) and stay in and around those. I'm not decided yet...

Best of luck out there Sanjay. Give me a shout if you're overnight anywhere near Portland.

TROY.

Thanks, Troy. I've been to Portland only once and loved it!



Thanks to all for your suggestions and advices!


Best wishes,
Sanjay